Angel Moroni is a figure in the Latter Day Saint movement, described as an angel who visited Joseph Smith in western New York beginning in 1823. According to Smith, this celestial being acted as the guardian of golden plates buried near his home, which served as the source for the Book of Mormon. Latter Day Saints often identify the angel as the same individual as the prophet-warrior Moroni, a pre-Columbian figure who finished the records on the plates before burying them.